The present invention relates to spinal surgery, namely, the fusion of adjacent intervertebral bodies or the replacement of a vertebral body.
Back pain can be caused by many different maladies, not the least of which are problems that directly impact the intervertebral discs of the spine. Typical disc issues include, inter alia, degeneration, bulging, herniation, thinning and abnormal movement. One method of treatment of such disc problems that has been widely utilized in the field of spinal surgery is a spinal fusion procedure, whereby an affected disc is removed, and the adjacent vertebral bodies are fused together through the use of interbody spacers, implants or the like. In some instances, it may also be necessary to remove and replace an entire vertebral body. This is often accomplished through the use of a larger implant that acts to fuse together the vertebral bodies adjacent the removed vertebral body.
The aforementioned implants often rely upon mechanical features to ensure engagement between the devices and the bone of the existing vertebral bodies. This coupled with the normal compressive load of the spine acts to keep the implant in place until bone can grow from the existing vertebral bodies into and through the implant. To encourage the bone growth, the implants are often pre-loaded with bone growth promoting material and thereafter placed into the spine. Bone growth promoting material may include naturally occurring bone, artificial materials or the like.
This pre-loading of bone growth promoting material normally takes place prior to implantation of existing implants, typically on a back table of the operating room. This requires the surgeon or other medical professional to estimate the overall amount of material to be pre-loaded into the implant, which is often not an easy task. Moreover, the pre-loaded material can fall out of the implant during the implantation process. All of this has the tendency to create an inefficient surgical procedure.
Therefore, there exists a need for an improved spinal implant that overcomes the aforementioned drawbacks.